The 1990s may have been a golden age for Disney Animation, but one particular film came smack-dab in the middle of the decade without much muss or fuss. Now, thirty years later, that film is finally getting its due and Mickey Mouse’s goofiest pal deserves his time in the spotlight.

As every ’90s kid knows, the decade was home to the so-called “Disney Renaissance.” Technically beginning in 1989 with The Little Mermaid, this period housed some of the greatest animated films ever to come out of Hollywood: classics like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Aladdin, to name just a few. Walt Disney Feature Animation—as it was known at the time—was firing on all cylinders, producing box office hit after box office hit. These were some of the biggest films of the decade, and they had the requisite budgets to match their ambition. For example, 1999’s Tarzan cost around $130 million to produce. Disney was spending big bucks on animated features at that time… well, except for one little movie in 1995 that wasn’t even directly produced in-house by Walt Disney Feature Animation: A Goofy Movie.

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Exactly thirty years on from its 1995 release, A Goofy Movie is getting the documentary treatment. The new film is titled Not Just A Goof, and it will be released on April 7, 2025. While nostalgia for the underrated flick starring Goofy and his son Max has been bubbling up under the surface for years now, it’s exciting to see Disney themselves get in on the action. A press release from the Mouse House went into further detail about the project: “It follows a young creative team tackling their first Disney feature, its initial disappointment, and its surprising resurgence decades later. Featuring key interviews and rare footage, it reveals the film’s impact and why it remains a beloved classic for a generation.” It’ll be interesting to see just how in-depth the documentary goes, as A Goofy Movie‘s production was far different from its other Disney-animated brethren of that era.

A Goofy Movie Was Disney’s Red-Headed Stepchild Of The 1990s

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Unlike Disney’s biggest animated features of the ’90s—even those relatively less heralded like Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame—A Goofy Movie got neither the budget nor the top-end talent one would expect. Technically, the 1995 flick was a Walt Disney Pictures production, but it was co-produced by three different animation studios under the Mouse House umbrella: Walt Disney Feature Animation, Walt Disney Television Animation, and Disney MovieToons. If that weren’t complicated enough, much of the actual animation was outsourced to other Disney studios in France, Australia, Spain, and Canada. Consider that it was a spinoff of the popular 1990s Disney Channel cartoon Goof Troop and everything gets muddled even further.

The production team had a measly budget of $18 million to get the project done, and it’s clear the higher-ups at Disney had no faith in the film whatsoever. It was originally scheduled to release on November 18, 1994, but was pushed back to April 7, 1995. Why? Because the company was afraid of family-friendly competition at theatres from The Pagemaster and The Swan Princess. These two kid-focused features were disastrous box office bombs that A Goofy Movie could’ve mopped the floor with, but Disney decided to reissue prints of The Lion King instead, even though the film had barely been off of screens since initially releasing in June of that year.

Despite a pushed release date and little marketing, A Goofy Movie still more than doubled its budget at the box office, a clear win for first-time director Kevin Lima and company. Disney obviously liked what Lima did with A Goofy Movie as well, considering they subsequently hired him to co-direct Tarzan before letting him loose in live-action for 102 Dalmatians and Enchanted. All in all, A Goofy Movie was the little film that could, despite never really getting a fair shake from then-CEO Michael Eisner.

But Why Has A Goofy Movie Become A Cult Classic?

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On its face, A Goofy Movie is little more than another generic road trip movie, albeit in animated form. The road trip film has been an enduring subgenre of the medium for decades now, with everything from Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Little Miss Sunshine to Sideways and Zombieland technically falling into the categorical definition. Family-friendly cinema has had plenty of these films too, with classics like Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and The Muppet Movie to go along with more recent fare like Onward and The Mitchells vs. the Machines. So why does the small-budgeted, relatively safe A Goofy Movie continue to endure thirty years after release?

For starters, yes, there are the killer original songs by Tevin Campbell as the film’s fictitious pop icon Powerline. Getting a genuine musical star in Campbell for Powerline’s two songs, “I 2 I” and “Stand Out” was a coup for the production team. There is no way A Goofy Movie has the staying power it currently does if Powerline doesn’t work and Powerline works because Campbell brought his A-game. Venture down to Orlando, Florida and you’ll see Powerline merch decorating various stores across Walt Disney World property. 1990s nostalgia is at an all-time high right now, sure, but you won’t see Mighty Ducks, Gargoyles, or TaleSpin gear all over the “Most Magical Place on Earth.”

Unlike other Disney films of the era, A Goofy Movie tells a relatable story. Its tale of cross-generational strife and love between Goofy and his son Max is not exactly the most challenging of subjects, but it is about as universal a narrative as one can tell. Look at the stories told in the Disney animated films sandwiching its release date: the Hamlet-inspired Lion King and the historical drama of Pocahontas. Those stories aren’t exactly applicable to the average moviegoer’s life. Being a hormonal teen struggling to connect with your parent? A crush on the girl of your dreams who seems out of your league? Everyone’s been there.

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Throw in voice performances from 1990s mainstays like Jason Marsden, Pauly Shore, and Joey Lawrence in addition to supporting roles for character acting greats like Wallace Shawn and Jo Anne Worley, and there is plenty there for average viewers and cinephiles alike to enjoy. A Goofy Movie and its direct-to-video sequel An Extremely Goofy Movie (which is far better than it has any right to be, by the way) were also successful on home video over the years, making it more than just a one-generation hit. It may not reach the lofty heights of other Disney animated classics, but you’d be hard-pressed to find another Disney film that just about anyone can enjoy at just about any time. Not too shabby for a flick that Disney seemingly didn’t even want to release in the first place.

Not Just A Goof is set for an April 7 release on Disney Plus.